


Twitter Ficlets

by Huggle



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cold Mary Winchester, Episode Tag, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Guilty Chuck, Guilty Mary Winchester, Hurt Castiel, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Episode: s12e12 Stuck In The Middle (With You), Protective Dean Winchester, Protective Mary Winchester
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 20:04:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10906515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huggle/pseuds/Huggle
Summary: Ficlets I wrote on Twitter, posted here to keep them together.  The format looks odd but I'll try to figure out how to make it a little easier on the eyes.





	1. Chuck visits Cas after the battle with Ramiel

It'll take him a while to get back his strength. He's healed - though still amazed at the lance, at Crowley- but somehow ...  
Somehow he's still tired. Shaken, he supposes. His past deaths- quick, over. Not any less brutal, but this one was harder. The pain worse.  
But what made it more terrible was knowing that his family was watching and suffering with him. At least it gave him the chance to say it.  
It has made for a very muted atmosphere in the bunker though. They're all shaken, tired. He knows talk of feelings is taboo in this family.  
Dean was very still around him afterwards, though he saw Cas had everything he needed. Lingered to see him settled in bed.  
Cas smiles as he remembers Dean's expression when he caught himself in the act of tucking him in. But he isn't sorry he said it.  
Now though in the quiet, even exhausted he can't find sleep. He feels fevered, a side effect of the lance's power.  
But it's uncomfortable enough to be frustrating. He shifts as though he can escape it, shuts his eyes, tries to soothe with his Grace.  
The hand that comes to rest on his forehead is cool, almost a blessing. 'Dean? Sam?' He's groggy, but hears the derisive snort.  
'Little shorter. What did you do to yourself, son?' Cas groans as his Father's image steadies and clears. 'I was done to,' he says.  
'I was stabbed with Michael's lance.' Chuck frowns. 'I was always at him to stop leaving his things just lying around.'  
Cas groans and tries to get up, pushing ineffectively at Chuck's hand, soothing though it is. But his Father simply eases him back down.  
Cas knows it's pointless to resist his strength. 'What do you want, Chuck?' There's a dark expression there, for a second, then gone.  
'That's Dad to you,'. Cas stares at him. 'I can't come see if my son is alright?' 'I'm fine,' Cas says. He doesn't mention when he wasn't.  
Like in the barn. Like when he was human and alone. Like when Naomi took and used him. All the year he spent searching....  
For a father who didn't want to be found. It's pointless. He knows his father's interest waxes and wanes. But it is never to be taken ...  
....at face value. Both he and Lucifer know that now. And there is really little to be said at this point. Chuck seems to know it.  
He gets up, steps away. 'I'll keep a better eye on you, Castiel.' 'If you say so.' Chuck nods, quiet acceptance of the rebuke.  
'Just remember,' he says. 'Family can hurt you too, Cas. Even if they don't mean to. Just by one wrong step.' Cas sits up but he's gone.  
He seethes at Chuck's words, some half-assed apology as Dean would say. Chuck deserted them and his last minute return changes nothing.  
He starts when Mary appears in the doorway. 'I heard voices. You ok?' He doesn't know if the boys told her of Chuck. Isn't sure...  
...telling her that she just missed God is a good idea. 'Bad dream,' he says. It's not untrue. She nods. 'Well, if you need anything.'  
He smiles his thanks. But as she turns to go, she looks back. 'I'm sorry, Cas,'. He doesn't understand and she must see that. She goes on.  
'You got hurt on my hunt. My watch.' 'And you ran over a powerful demon to rescue me,' he reminds her. 'Mary, it...'  
'Shouldn't have happened,' she says. 'It won't again. Not to any of my boys.' She's gone before Cas can says anything else.  
He slumps back and finds sleep a possibility now. If his father had stayed, he would have witnessed genuine family Cas can actually trust.


	2. Dean and Mary argue over a BMOL Hunt while Cas is hurt

Dean sits Cas down in the closest chair and yanks open his shirt. Buttons pop in all directions, skittering away. The skin beneath them is bloody, torn. No, Dean thinks. Not again. 

"Ok," he says. "Hang on, Cas." He starts to rise but Sam's there behind him.

"Here." He puts the first aid kit down. "Let's get him on the table." Cas tries to protest, but Dean shushes him. They lift him and it hurts. Sam brushes the hair back from the angel's face, soothing him. Dean notes it, feels something sting sharply inside. But he has an open bite to deal with and the venom Cas's body is sluggishly expelling in sickly yellow globs.

"Hold him," he tells Sam.

There's an couple of bags of saline in the kit. Dean uses them to irrigate the bite and Cas shudders in Sam's grip. Dean uses one gloved hand on Cas's abdomen to hold him down as he continues, cursing himself silently at every sign of pain. Apologising.

But finally he can stop. He uses some wipes to clean the last of the venom from Cas's skin and the blood. The wound is starting to knit. All the same, he takes a dressing and tapes it carefully over the bite and then sits back to look at them. Exhausted pale angel. Brother, trembling and not just from the effort of holding down a pain wracked celestial. His own hands shake as he strips off the gloves. There's silence for a while as they settle. It breaks when the bunker door opens and he's reaching for the gun under the table.

"It's me," Mary says. "You weren't answering your phones. Is everything alright?" She trails off as she sees them. 

"No," Dean says. "It's not."

Mary moves in, rests a hand on Cas's shoulder. "Are you ok?"

"I will be shortly", he says. 

Dean snorts. Ten minutes ago he could put his hand in Cas's side. But Mary seems satisfied. She looks at her sons. 

"Arthur said some witches have turned up at a convergence site. He thinks whatever they're going to do, it'll be tonight. If we leave now..". 

His expression silences her. Cas pushes himself upright.

"I can come with you," he says. 

Dean looks at Sam. He wants to see agreement there, support. He sees instead his brother's torn.

"No, you can't," Dean says. Before Cas can take that and sink with it, he adds, "because none of us are going." Mary glares at him.

"Dean, we need to be there tonight. We don't know what they're planning."

"Exactly," he says. "Maybe nothing. But Ketch'll kill 'em anyway. But even if they are up to something, we're out. We took a hit, mom. We need time."

"Cas is fine", she snaps. "He can stay if not." 

She says it like he's not lying there. Dean grabs her arm, starts upstairs. Once they're outside Mary pulls free angrily.

"I don't appreciate being manhandled," she says. 

"And I don't appreciate you talking about him like he's not in the room", he retorts. "He isn't fine. We're not fine." 

And they're not, he knows it. They'd be dead if Cas hadn't been there and got his gut torn open saving them.

And now she wants them to just dust themselves off and move on. Or Ketch does. And leave Cas behind,hurt and alone. "No," he says. "Forget it."

"We can't stop to lick our wounds, Dean. We don't get that luxury. And I told him you'd help." 

His phone's in his pocket. He yanks it out.

Ketch answers on the third ring. "Ah, Winchester. Are you on your way?" 

"No," Dean says, and he meets his mom's glare head on. "We're unavailable."

There's an awkward pause. "Well," Ketch says. "That's unfortunate. Mary did say..." 

"I don't care," Dean says. "You ask me, not her, and it's a no."

He hangs up. Mary looks exasperated. "We have to work with them," she says. 

"With them? Or for them?" Even before she can argue he turns away. He's wasted enough time up here while his family needs him inside. 

"Be careful," he says, then shuts the door behind him. It's hard walking away. His instincts are to pack up and head out because that's what they do. The job comes first.  
But he's tired of having to prioritise. Putting everything else first. His family has a right come first for once. But that doesn't help dispel the guilt that lies heavy in his stomach. Hunters don't get to choose. He doesn't get to choose. His dad made that clear.

But when he comes downstairs, his spirits lift a little. Sam's got Cas drinking some water. He's got one of his t-shirts there, old, soft. Cas looks like he might take some persuading to take off his trench, jacket and shirt no matter the condition. But they look over at him.

"I'm sorry, Dean," he says. 

Dean glares but there's no heat in it. "New rule," he says. "We get downtime after every hunt. Hurt or not."

There's other hunters. Because he thinks, they deserve a chance to calm, to find comfort in each others' presence, survival.

They deserve that. His family deserves that. Sam ruffles Cas's hair, and passed the t-shirt to Dean. 

"I'm going to lock us down," he says. But as he passes Dean he whispers, "You made the right call." 

Dean can't speak for a moment. Sam's support means everything. 

Course, he could have stayed to help persuade a stubborn little angel to change his clothes but Dean's an angel wrangling expert these days.


End file.
